UAAP Volleyball

La Salle nails semis twice-to-beat, survives contending Adamson

Philip Matel

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

La Salle nails semis twice-to-beat, survives contending Adamson

SOLO ON TOP. The La Salle Lady Spikers celebrate a winning play.

UAAP

La Salle regains its feisty form to rally past Adamson in a five-set thriller and claim the twice-to-beat bonus in the Final Four

MANILA, Philippines – The La Salle Lady Spikers clinched the first twice-to-beat advantage in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament after a comeback 25-17, 25-27, 23-25, 25-23, 15-9 victory against the Adamson Lady Falcons on Wednesday, April 19, at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Rookie sensation Angel Canino dropped 7 of a career-high 28 points in the deciding set, 3 of which were during the match-defining 8-0 blitz that gave La Salle an overwhelming 8-2 advantage.

Canino also added 19 receptions to her tally, helping revive the Lady Spikers following a sluggish showing in the second and third sets.

Thea Gagate’s towering presence was clearly felt as well after also tallying her UAAP-best 22 points, which stemmed from 19 attacks and 3 blocks.

“We were relaxed in the second set and became off because of it,” said Canino in the post-game press conference.

“We saw and tested our character inside and we were able to showcase who we are and how we fight as a team,” she added.

Jolina dela Cruz finished as the third 20+ point scorer for the Final Four-bound Lady Spikers, recording 21 points as the team improved their league-best record to 11-1.

La Salle forced the deciding fifth set following a spirited outing in the fourth frame that saw them erect a 16-10 lead.

However, the Lady Falcons trimmed the gap, scoring 4 unanswered points to come within 2, 16-14, following a service ace by Kate Santiago.

With the Lady Spikers at set point, 24-21, Adamson attempted to steal the set and the game following a combination of attacks and errors, but Gagate made an emphatic rejection of Ckyle Tagsip’s attack.

Adamson overtook La Salle for a 2-1 set lead at the end of the third frame after scoring three straight points, which overturned a 23-22 deficit into a set victory.

Santiago scored a team-high 21 markers for Adamson before being helped off the court late in the fifth set as she suffered an ankle injury.

Trisha Tubu contributed 18 for a Lady Falcons side that saw their record drop to 8-4, good for fourth place.

“We are fortunate that we were able to hold on in the fourth and fifth sets, so at least we got them by working hard,” recalled DLSU assistant Noel Orcullo.

“We just told our players to persevere, we will crawl back and fortunately, they were able to respond well.”

In the nightcap, the La Salle Green Spikers made quick work of the slumping Adamson Soaring Falcons, 25-17, 25-14, 25-12, in men’s action.

La Salle collected a much-needed seventh win against five losses against a team that is only 1-11 for the season behind JM Ronquillo’s 14 markers.

Setter Paul Serrano scored 3 points to complement his 15 excellent tosses as DLSU currently owns the third spot in the tight race to the playoffs.

Evander Novillo and Joshua Magalaman scored 7 points apiece for Adamson, which lost its fifth straight contest. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!